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Years of Service
- The time an individual has worked in a job covered by the plan. It
is used to determine when an individual can participate and vest and
how they can accrue benefits in the plan.
Yield
- Also known as return. The dividends or interest paid by a company
expressed as a percentage of the current price. A stock with a
current market value of $40 a share paying dividends at the rate of
$3.20 is said to return 8% ($3.20÷$40.00). The current yield on a
bond is figured the same way.
Yield to maturity
- The yield of a bond to maturity takes into account the price
discount from or premium over the face amount. It is greater than
the current yield when the bond is selling at a discount and less
than the current yield when the bond is selling at a premium.
Zero coupon bond
- A bond that pays no interest but is priced, at
issue, at a discount from its redemption price.
Z-Score - the
output from a credit-strength test that gauges the likelihood of
bankruptcy.
A z-score of 0 is equal to a 50% probability of bankruptcy
the lower the score, the higher are
the odds of bankruptcy.
A Z-score of lower than 1.8 indicates that the company is heading
for bankruptcy. Companies with scores above 3 are unlikely to enter
bankruptcy. Scores in
between 1.8 and 3 lie in a gray area.
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